ARD rebuffs Musharraf’s invitation for talksLahore, June 24
The component parties of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy are reluctant to participate in the all-party conference convened by Gen Pervez Musharraf on June 27 prior to his visit of India, as in their view it would amount to accepting him as the constitutional head of state.

USA ‘using’ India to contain ChinaBeijing, June 24
With improvement in Indo-US ties, China’s official media has launched a sustained barrage against USA charging it with using India to ‘contain’ China at a time when Sino-US relations have nose-dived in the aftermath of the recent US spy plane incident.
“It is noticeable that the abrupt warming in Indo-US relations
occurred just as a series of difficulties, including human rights
conflicts and US arms sales to Taiwan, emerged in Sino-US relations,”
the official “Outlook” magazine commented.

3,000 flee as volcano rocks with explosionsManila, June 24
About 3,000 villagers left their homes today as a central Philippine volcano rocked with a series of explosions and lava trickled down its slopes in a warning of possible eruption, officials said.

Lava flows from the mouth of Mayon volcano at the start of a series of eruptions
on Sunday, forcing thousands of villagers to evacuate. — Reuters photo

Nagas living in own territory, says MuivahBangkok, June 24
Nagas are not living in anybody else’s territory but in their own, so the question of claiming any territory does not arise, top Naga rebel leader Thuingaleng Muivah has said.
“We don’t have greater Nagaland nor do we have smaller Nagaland. We
have just the land that belongs to us,” Mr Muivah, general secretary
of the underground National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah),
said.

Taliban to save foreigners
from LadenKabul, June 24
The Taliban regime today said it was watching the activities of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and he would not be allowed to launch attacks on foreign targets from Afghanistan.

Afghan soldiers from the ruling Taliban movement return to Kabul from the front line north of the capital on
Sunday. The Taliban movement on Sunday dismissed media reports that exiled Saudi Arabian dissident Osama bin Laden was planning attacks on U.S. and Israeli interests, saying his activities were "under control".
— Reuters photo

An elderly Albanian woman casts her ballot in Tirana on Sunday. Albanians began voting in their first general election since the country plunged into anarchy in 1997 after the collapse of fraudulent investment schemes.
— Reuters

UK to recruit 1,000 Indian teachersLondon, June 24
In order to meet an acute shortage of teachers, Britain plans to recruit about 1,000 teachers from India for the classes commencing in September next.Besides India, Britain is also targeting teachers from China for the first time.

Zing returns to Nepal’s nightlifeKathmandu, June 24
The zing has returned to nightlife and the entertainment industry is back with a bang in Nepal as the Himalayan Kingdom opens a new chapter in its history after a fortnight of mourning and monetary losses.

Castro ‘faints’ during speechHavana, June 24
Fidel Castro appeared to faint before a crowd of thousands and had to be helped off the stage by aides during a televised speech yesterday. The Cuban leader returned to the podium after a few minutes and said he was fine, but needed some rest. He said he would get some sleep and resume his speech later in the day.

Lahore, June 24
The component parties of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) are reluctant to participate in the all-party conference convened by Gen Pervez Musharraf on June 27 prior to his visit of India, as in their view it would amount to accepting him as the constitutional head of state.

The ARD parties opine that attending the meeting is against the alliance’s pledge to get the 1973 constitution restored in the country. The ARD, which has scheduled its summit meeting on June 26, one day ahead of the APC, will take a collective decision on the invitation from the military government to various partners of the alliance.

ARD President Nawabzada Nasrullah told The News yesterday that the alliance had taken collective decisions in the past and there would be no change in its policy on the government invitation. “I have already conveyed my personal opinion to General Musharraf during a meeting with him in Islamabad a few days ago,” he said.

Sources in the ARD believe that the component parties have already made up their mind and may reject the government invitation at the June 26 meeting in Lahore. The sources said the Pakistan People Party (PPP), the PML-N and the Awami National Party had already expressed their opinion pertaining to dialogue with the regime.

The PPP, which allowed its Senior Vice-Chairman, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, and its former Punjab president, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, to meet General Musharraf, was in no mood to talk to the regime at any level. It was the PPP alone which opposed Nawabzada Nasrullah’s meeting with General Musharraf on June 14 since the invitation for the meeting came soon after PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto was convicted for three years by an accountability court.

The sources said the PML-N and the ANP had already declared that there should be no talks with the military government after General Musharraf’s assumption of presidency in a dictatorial fashion. As far as the smaller components of the alliance were concerned there appeared a general consensus that there was no need to accept the invitation.

“General Musharraf’s assumption of presidency has undermined the federal parliamentary system,” said Istaqlal Party President Manzoor Ahmed Gillani. He said his party did not accept General Musharraf even a de facto ruler of the country as he was an alien ruler according to the 1973 constitution.

Meanwhile, the common stand of the PML-N and the PPP not to meet General Musharraf has created an uneasy situation for the ARD following an official invitation to Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan for consultations with the president about his upcoming India visit.

The utmost effort of the two major ARD partners will be to persuade Nawabzada to ignore the invitation. But if he insists on honouring it, they may bow to his desire with lots of reservations, maintaining a visible distance from it.

“To accept Musharraf as President is like going back on vows with the nation,” the ARD chief was quoted as saying three days before the June 26 ARD meeting. He will be under pressure from the PPP and the PML-N to decline the invitation.

Last time, PPP Senior Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Amin Faheem had whole-heartedly welcomed the ARD chief’s meeting with General Musharraf, but he had to change his stand when Mrs Benazir Bhutto expressed her displeasure. The PPP and the PML-N have their own reasons not to meet the president. Mrs Bhutto is angered over her conviction by a Rawalpindi accountability court and the PML-N is irritated over General Musharraf’s ascent to the presidency. The party decided the other day not to hold any meeting with the government at any level. Both the parties have so far taken a similar stand.

There are indications that if the government perceived that its invitation would be ignored, it might not send it. Thus, the PPP and the PML-N may not be invited for meeting with President Musharraf.

The Awami National Party may join the PPP and the PML-N. However, it would be argued just for face-saving that these parties were represented in the Musharraf-politicians meeting if Nawabzada attended it as ARD President.

Efforts are afoot to have these parties on board in view of the crucial nature of the President’s consultations about his visit to India, as a national consensus is the need of the hour.

All other parties invited by the government are not only ready but are eager to break the bread with General Musharraf and give their views on his talks with Mr Vajpayee.

After the last week’s meeting between Nawabzada and General Musharraf, PML leaders had stated they had lost nothing due to this session. They said the ARD had been able to highlight its demands forcefully before the chief executive. “I am satisfied,” PML-N acting President Javed Hashmi said.
ANI

Beijing, June 24
With improvement in Indo-US ties, China’s official media has launched a sustained barrage against USA charging it with using India to ‘contain’ China at a time when Sino-US relations have nose-dived in the aftermath of the recent US spy plane incident.

“It is noticeable that the abrupt warming in Indo-US relations occurred just as a series of difficulties, including human rights conflicts and US arms sales to Taiwan, emerged in Sino-US relations,” the official “Outlook” magazine commented.

The Chinese official media has taken note of the fact that US President George W. Bush went out of the way to meet with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh at the White House in April, when Washington’s ties with Beijing were severely strained over the US spy plane issue.

“It is more than coincidental that the ‘unexpected meeting’ President Bush initiated with Mr Jaswant Singh at the White House occurred not long after the mid-air plane collision off Hainan island, and at a time when China was protesting against the rude and unreasonable US attitude,” “Outlook” said.

It said while the USA announced resumption of military exchanges with India, the Pentagon had declared it would examine US-China military exchanges on a case-by-case basis.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, however, said the growing Indo-US ties would be conducive to regional peace and stability.

“We hope that the development of US-India bilateral relations would be conducive for peace, stability and development in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue said when asked to comment on Beijing’s stance on the improvement in relations between New Delhi and Washington.

He did not react when asked to comment on the views expressed by the official Chinese media.

“It is the USA that has been actively promoting Indo-US ties,” a recent article in “Outlook” said, adding that “the carrot the USA is offering to India is attractive, so no wonder India is tempted to move closer and closer to the USA.”

In order to rope in India, the USA first catered to India’s “psychological desire to be seen as a world power rather than a second-rate country,” it said.

The magazine said the USA “sacrificed” relations with Pakistan to pander to India, despite breaking the strategic balance in South Asia.

Referring to the Bush administration not sending its emissary to Islamabad to consult on the National Missile Defence System while US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage visited India, it said “this was something the Bush administration’s predecessors, including the Clinton administration, had not and would not have done.”

Further, the article said that the Bush administration had no desire to get involved in the Kashmir conflict, and regarded the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as “waste paper” because of its desire to develop the NMD.

Thus, the two obstacles — India refusing to sign the CTBT and the Kashmir conflict — which blocked the development of Indo-US relations had been preliminarily cleared by the Bush administration, it said.
PTI

Manila, June 24
About 3,000 villagers left their homes today as a central Philippine volcano rocked with a series of explosions and lava trickled down its slopes in a warning of possible eruption, officials said.

Residents of four small villages 8 km from the slopes of Mayon volcano fled to evacuation centres 5 km away in the city of Legazpi, Mayor Imelda Roces said. Roces said no evacuation had been ordered as volcanologists awaited further signs that the volcano, 330 km southeast of Manila, could erupt in the coming days.

Some 68,000 persons were evacuated in February last year when the 2,474-metre volcano last erupted. Emergency officials said a new eruption could force a similar number to flee.

Explosions from Mayon were audible 12 km from the cone today as officials met to prepare emergency shelters and evacuation plans for people near Mayon, said Cedric Dive, the local emergency coordinator. Yesterday, volcanologists raised the alert level to four, of a possible five, in the area around the volcano when it spurted 50-metre fountain of lava and puffed a column of ash 1 km into the sky, the officials said.
AP

Bangkok, June 24
Nagas are not living in anybody else’s territory but in their own, so the question of claiming any territory does not arise, top Naga rebel leader Thuingaleng Muivah has said.

“We don’t have greater Nagaland nor do we have smaller Nagaland. We have just the land that belongs to us,” Mr Muivah, general secretary of the underground National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), said.

“We Nagas are not living in anybody’s territory, we are in our own territories ... it is a fact, so the question of claiming does not arise.”

“If our brothers Meiteis and Assamese interpret ceasefire as more than ceasefire, it is their own creation out of apprehension, We will not be responsible for anything that may arise there from,” 66-year-old Mr Muivah, who was educated in Shillong, said.

Mr Muivah, who has been here for the past one year facing trial in a Thai court on the charges of travelling on fake passport, insisted that the NSCN (I-M) was committed to seeking a political solution to what he termed as the “Indo-Naga” issue.

“At the moment, we don’t see reason to make a big thing out of the ceasefire area coverage declaration, because ceasefire is meant for peaceful resolution of the problem,” he said.

If anybody was opposed to it, did they feel violence was a better means to solution, he asked, adding that “for us it is not so”.

Commenting on the “substantive issues” which the government and NSCN (I-M) ceasefire agreement seeks to process, Mr Muivah said foremost the Indo-Naga issue had to be fully understood by both sides together.

“If the Indian authorities and Nagas would not understand the true nature of this issue it will be very difficult to talk.”

He acknowledged that if the Nagas were not prepared to appreciate the difficulties involved on the part of the government regarding the Indo-Naga issue “there can be no negotiation.”

“We have come forward to understand India’s difficulties as far as we can and have come close to India as far as it is possible,” Mr Muivah, who loves reading revolutionary philosophy of both the west and the east, said.

On the need for mutual trust between the two sides, he said it also depended on how much “we honour the commitments to each other.”
PTI

London, June 24
In order to meet an acute shortage of teachers, Britain plans to recruit about 1,000 teachers from India for the classes commencing in September next.

Besides India, Britain is also targeting teachers from China for the first time.

According to the National Association of Head Teachers, the number of vacant posts could soon reach 40,000. Unless vacancies are filled in the coming weeks, some schools could be forced to move to a four-day week when the term starts in September.

“This is going to be a very big market” Alijan Rajan, vice president of Vira International, a recruitment agency in India told The Sunday Times. The agency has already received more than 1,000 applications after advertising vacancies for British schools.

“There are 600 vacancies that need to be filled immediately, particularly for maths and science teachers. We have excellent teachers in those fields and they are very keen to move abroad,” a spokesman of the agency said.

Lisa Gilbert of New Choice Education, a London recruitment agency that plans to bring in 200 teachers from India, said recruits would be fully briefed about “low disciplinary standards of many British classrooms” before being accepted to fill positions.

They know things are different compared with India and we will be completely honest about this and tell them they will have to adapt,” she said.

Indian schools follow a curriculum and education system similar to Britain, and many teach in English. While classes of more than 30 are considered excessive here, Indian teachers regularly teach 50-60 pupils.

“These teachers are very talented and experienced and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be offering them opportunities to come and work in Britain,” said Paul Regan, head teacher of Kingsford Community School in East London, which has already recruited one Indian science teacher and hopes to bring over others.

In April, the government doubled the time limit that foreign teachers could work in British schools to four years, and removed a rule preventing them from working in the same school for more than four months at a time.

China is also being targeted, with the first of 23 Chinese teachers due to arrive at an East London school this week.
PTI

Kathmandu, June 24
The zing has returned to nightlife and the entertainment industry is back with a bang in Nepal as the Himalayan Kingdom opens a new chapter in its history after a fortnight of mourning and monetary losses.

The spark in the capital’s upmarket areas such as Durbar Marg and Thamel, which had vanished in the wake of the June 1 palace massacre and subsequent violence, is visible again as couples dance away through the night at the gaily decorated discos and cars whizz past blaring hard rock.

The lively restaurants, joints, discos and pubs remain open till the wee hours and parking lots are filled to capacity.

Cigarette vendors, who used to down their shutters by 7.30 p.m. fearing violence, now keep their shops open till late in the night.

“The crowds, which had thinned considerably during the crisis, are returning,” said Mr Iros Bajracharya of the popular Nanglo Pub and Cafe on Kingsway (Durbar Marg).

The casinos, which wore a deserted look till last week, too have reported good business, though there is a visible decline in the number of Indian tourists.

Serpentine queues can be seen outside cinema halls screening Hindi and Nepali films and cassette shops too are filled with music lovers.

The popular Gopi Krishna Hall alone faced a loss of nearly Rs 2 million during the mourning period.

The half-a-dozen odd private FM stations in Kathmandu, which had been broadcasting devotional music and patriotic songs during the state mourning till last Saturday, too have begun to air melodious popular numbers.

A ban was imposed on the entertainment sector for 13 days after the massacre of King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and other royals.

The private radio stations, which are engaged in
cut-throat competition and are solely dependent on advertisements for their income, not only lost much of their audiences during the mourning but also lakhs of rupees in revenue.

Some popular stations, according to media reports, lost as much as Rs 1 million over the two-week period.

“We had to face a loss of lakhs of rupees,” said Mr Bharat Shakya of KATH 97.9.

He, however, added, “At a time when the entire country is deep in sorrow, money does not matter.”

Cable operators, who had suspended telecast of popular entertainment channels, mostly Indian, now air all channels, providing relief to the millions, who had only news and devotional music to watch and hear for a fortnight.

“For a few days it was okay, but then the boredom was too much,” said Mr Krishna Thapa, who runs a cyber cafe in Thamel.

However, as they turn a new chapter in national life, Nepalese have little time to rue over their monetary losses. “We lost our King and other royals who were much greater, but then life has to move on,” said Mr Nabin Gurung, an usherer in a movie theatre.
PTI

Havana, June 24
Fidel Castro appeared to faint before a crowd of thousands and had to be helped off the stage by aides during a televised speech yesterday. The Cuban leader returned to the podium after a few minutes and said he was fine, but needed some rest. He said he would get some sleep and resume his speech later in the day.

The 74-year-old Cuban leader, wearing his traditional long-sleeved uniform and heavy black boosts, was about two hours into a speech under the bright sun when his body began listing to the side.

Government cameras suddenly pulled away and focused on the crowd, filled with surprised and concerned faces. Some people gasped and some cried. “Calmness and courage, we lift our flag,” Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said, taking the microphone immediately after Castro appeared to faint. “Companero Fidel obviously has had in the middle of the heat...a momentary fall,” Perez Roque said.
AP

WORLD BRIEFS

ITALIAN FILM DIRECTORWINS BEST FILM AWARD
ROME: A film by Italian director Ermanno Olmi about a fearless young soldier in the 16th century, was selected as the best film by the foreign Press based in Italy. “Il Mestiere delle Armi,” (The profession of Arms) won Globo d’Oro, or Golden Globe at an evening ceremony at Rome’s Cinecitta studio on Saturday. In addition to the top prize, the film also won the best cinematography award, the ANSA news agency said.
AP

BRITON HELD FOR

ABUSIVE BEHAVIOUR
ATHENS: A British man was arrested and briefly detained by the Greek police after his abusive behaviour on board a London to Cyprus flight forced the captain to make an emergency landing in northern greece. “The man was drunk and started to attack flight attendants and passengers so the pilot asked for permission to land here,’’ a Thessaloniki police spokesman told reporters. He said the 27-year-old was detained early on Saturday while the Cyprus Airways plane took off for Larnaca.
Reuters

IRAQI GOVT BLAMED

FOR CLERIC’S DEATH
DUBAI: A top Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim cleric has died under mysterious circumstances in Iraq, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported. Grand Ayatollah Hussein bahr al-Iloum, a 75-year-old scholar, died in his home city of Najaf on Friday and was buried there, the London-based al-Hayat daily said on Saturday It did not say how he died. The Ayatollah’s relatives were quick to blame the Iraqi Government for his death, suggesting that he may have been assassinated.
Reuters

DIONNE QUINTUPLET

DIES
OF CANCER
TORONTO: Yvonne Dionne, one of the Dionne quintuplets who were the first to survive infancy and who were put on display in Depression-era Canada, died in Montreal on Saturday after a battle with cancer. Dionne, 67. and her four sisters survived a premature birth in 1934 only to be taken from their family by the Ontario Government and put on public display in a specially built hospital.
Reuters

GAYS, LESBIANS HOLD

ANNUAL PARADE
BERLIN: Hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian people danced through the streets of the German capital at the annual Christopher Street day parade. On Saturday, marchers followed an 8 km route via the Kurfuerstendamm boulevard and the central Potsdamer Platz square to the city’s 19th century victory column. Christopher Street Day parades are held annually in many world cities. The name commemorates gay protests against 1969 police raids against gays in New York city.
DPA

RHINOS BREAK RECORD

AT WILDLIFE AUCTION
SOUTH AFRICA: A group of six rare black rhinos fetched a record $ 68,480 each at the world’s biggest wildlife auction, bought by a German bidder operating a private game reserve in South Africa. The annual auction held by Kwazulu-Natal province on yesterday saw close to 1,800 animals, including more than 70 rhinos, sold and raised almost 22 million rand for conservation projects and community development.
Reuters

JAIL, WHIPPING

FOR RAPISTS
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian courts have sentenced two Filipinos to a total of 27 years in jail and 10 strokes of the cane for robbery, theft and gang-rape, reports said on Sunday. Separate courts in Kota Kinabalu, in the eastern state of Sabah, handed down the sentences on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Star and Sun newspapers reported.
AFP

TYPHOON CHEBI LEAVES 5 DEAD
TAIPEI: Typhoon Chebi moved away from Taiwan and pounded the mainland on Sunday after it left five persons dead and 28 missing on and around the island, officials said. Weather officials said the typhoon, the second such weather front this year, had landed on the mainland, but was losing its momentum.
AFP